RECOMMENDATIONS

• 

  Meatball and lovage soup (ciorba di perisoara)

  Frances Jones-Davies' soup brings out the musky, lemon flavours of this herb complementing the beef and vegetables

• 

  Mango, passion-fruit and papaya lassi

  This refreshing Indian yogurt drink is packed with tropical flavour and makes a great match with spicy food

• 

  Pastiera

  Matthew Fort describes his traditional Italian Easter tart as “rich, but, thank God, comfortingly light”

• 

  Braised brisket

  Gary Rhodes' braised beef brisket is cooked for four hours at a low heat to make an unctuous melt-in-the-mouth casserole

• 

  Onion and cheese tart

  Nigel Slater makes a large, thin onion tart - perfect for entertaining lots of people

• 

  Christmas cranberry canapés

  Easy cheesy morsels to serve up at a Christmas drinks party from the British Cheese Board

• 

  Rum and pumpkin tart with bitter chocolate

  A wickedly indulgent dessert from Giorgio Locatelli: meltingly crisp pastry filled with caramelised pumpkin, rum and oozing bitter chocolate

• 

  Carrot and cardamom jam

  Thane Prince combines cardamom and carrot to wonderful effect – you could try this preserve with parsnips instead of carrots too

• 

  Teisen lap cake

  Matt Tebbutt cooks up a Welsh speciality of warm sultana-studded cake with lavender honey-baked figs

• 

  Sweet semolina with saffron

  Anupama Puranik cooks this grain with bananas and milk before adding Indian spices for a twist to a traditional pudding